2011 Cricket World Cup
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a World Cup. The World Cup was also supposed to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights. The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai. Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final. Eight of Pakistan's matches (including the semi-final) were awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.
All matches in the World Cup were accorded One Day International status, with all matches being played over 50 overs. Fourteen national cricket teams competed in the tournament, including ten full members and four associate members. The World Cup took place between February and 2nd April 2011, with the first match played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. The opening ceremony was held on 17 February 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, two days before the start of the tournament, with the final on 2 April 2011 between India and Srilanka at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
The tournament was won by India who defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets. India became the first nation to win a world cup final on home soil. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a captain's knock of unbeaten 91 in the final and was adjudged man of the match. The biggest upset of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was the defeat of England by Ireland. Ireland's Kevin O'Brien made 100 in just 50 balls (and a total of 113 off 63 balls), the fastest World Cup Century. Also Ireland made the highest successful run chase in World Cup history beating Sri Lanka's 313 against Zimbabwe at New Plymouth in New Zealand in 1992.
Host selection
Bids
The ICC originally announced its decision as to which countries would host the 2011 World Cup on 30 April 2006. Australia and New Zealand also bid for the tournament, and a successful Australasian bid for the 2011 World Cup would have seen a 50–50 split in games, with the final still up for negotiation. The Trans–Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only bid for 2011 delivered to ICC headquarters in Dubai ahead of the 1 March deadline. Considerable merits of the Australasian bid were the superior venues and infrastructure and the total support of both the New Zealand and Australian governments on tax and customs issues during the tournament, according to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. The New Zealand government had also given assurance that Zimbabwe would be allowed to compete in the tournament, following political discussions in the country over whether their cricket team should be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005.
ICC President Ehsan Mani said the extra time taken by the Asian block to hand over its bid compliance book had harmed the four-nation bid. However, when the time came to vote, Asia won the hosting rights by seven votes to three. The Pakistan Cricket Board has revealed that it was the vote of the West Indies Cricket Board that swung the matter, as the Asian bid had the support of the four bidding countries along with South Africa and Zimbabwe. It was reported in Pakistani newspaper Dawn that the Asian countries promised to hold fund-raising events for West Indian cricket during the 2007 World Cup, which may have influenced the vote. However, chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Asian bid, I. S. Bindra, said it was their promise of extra profits in the region of US$400 million that swung the vote, that there "was no quid pro quo for their support", and that playing the West Indies had "nothing to do with the World Cup bid".
The ICC prefers to rotate World Cup venues between major cricket playing nations. The World Cups have been hosted by England (three times: 1975, 1979, 1983), India/Pakistan (1987), Australia/New Zealand (1992), India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka (1996), England/Netherlands (1999), South Africa/Zimbabwe/Kenya) (2003) and West Indies (2007). For the 2011 World Cup Australia/New Zealand were a strong contender ahead of India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh because they had not hosted a World Cup since 1992. In the final voting India won because they argued that since they were a bigger group of countries they should be assigned a World Cup more frequently. Australia/New Zealand were awarded the 2015 World Cup.
Format
Late in 2007, the four host nations agreed upon a revised format for the 2011 World Cup identical to the 1996 World Cup, the only change being the number of teams: it was 12 in 1996 and 14 in 2011. The first round of the tournament will be a round-robin in which the 14 teams are divided into two groups of 7 teams each. The 7 teams play each other once with the top 4 from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals. The format ensures that each team gets to play a minimum of 6 matches even if they are ruled out of the tournament due to early defeats.
Qualification
As per ICC regulations, all 10 full members automatically qualify for the World Cup, including Zimbabwe who have given up their Test playing status until the standard of their team improves.
The ICC also organised a qualifying tournament in South Africa to determine which Associate teams would participate in 2011 event. Ireland, who had been the best performing Associate nation since the last World Cup, won the tournament, beating Canada in the final. The Netherlands and Kenya also qualified by virtue of finishing third and fourth respectively.
Preparations
Pakistan loses co-host status
In April 2009 the ICC announced that Pakistan had lost its right to co-host the 2011 World Cup due to ongoing concerns about the "uncertain security situation" prevailing in the country, especially in the aftermath of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore.
It is estimated that the PCB will lose $10.5 million due to the tournament being taken away from them. This figure only includes the match-fee of $750,000 per match guaranteed by the ICC. The overall loss to the PCB and the Pakistani economy is expected to be much greater.
On 9 April 2009, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt revealed that they had issued a legal notice to oppose ICC's decision. However, the ICC claims that PCB is still a co-host and they have only shifted the matches out of Pakistan. Pakistan had proposed that South Asia host the 2015 World Cup and Australia/New Zealand host 2011, however this option did not find favour with their co-hosts and hence didn't materialise.
Allocation of matches
On 11 April 2005, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan announced an agreement about the allocation of games. The original plan involved India hosting the final, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka would host the semi-finals. and the opening ceremony will take place in Bangladesh.
After being stripped of its co-host status, Pakistan made the bid to host its home games in the cities of UAE as a neutral home venue. This is a result of Pakistan playing matches in the preceding months in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The pitches in these stadiums have also been developed to suit the Pakistani players.
However, on 28 April 2009, the ICC announced the re-allocation of matches originally intended to be played in Pakistan. As a result, India hosted 29 matches across eight venues including the final and one semi-final; Sri Lanka hosted 12 in three venues, including one semi-final; while Bangladesh staged eight at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on 17 February 2011.
On 1 June 2010, the first phase of tickets for the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were put on sale following a meeting of the tournament's Central Organising Committee in Mumbai. The tickets were priced affordably, with the cheapest costing 20 US cents in Sri Lanka, the committee said. In January 2011, the ICC declared the Eden Gardens ground in Kolkata, India to be unfit and unlikely to be complete by 27 February when it was scheduled to host a match between India and England. As a result, the match was moved to Bangalore.
Media and promotion
The World Cup has grown as a media event with each tournament. The International Cricket Council has sold the rights for broadcasting of the 2011 Cricket World Cup for around US$ 2 Billion to ESPN Star Sports and Star Cricket.
Song and other promotions
The official event ambassador for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is Sachin Tendulkar, promoting various ICC initiatives for the tournament.
The official song of the 2011 World Cup "De Ghuma Ke" was composed by the trio of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, and is sung in Hindi, Bengali and Sinhala. It incorporates an array of Indian rhythms, as well as elements of rock and hip-hop. The song was performed at the opening ceremony of the tournament, which was held in Bangladesh on 17 February 2011.
Mascot
Stumpy, a young elephant, is the official mascot for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He was unveiled at a function in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday, 2 April 2010. The official name of the mascot was released on Monday, 2 August 2010 after an online competition conducted by the International Cricket Council in the last week of July, 2010.
Opening ceremony
Fireworks at the opening ceremony, seen from the surrounding areas of the Bangabandhu National Stadium in central Dhaka.The Opening Ceremony was held in Bangladesh. The venue for the opening ceremony was Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The event took place on 17 February 2011, 2 days prior to the first match of the World Cup.
Prize money
The 2011 Cricket World Cup winning team would be taking home a prize money of US$ 3 million and US$ 1.5 million for runner-up, with the International Cricket Council deciding to double the total allocation for the coveted tournament to US$ 10 million. The winning team will also take home a replica of the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy, that has been awarded since 1999. The decision was taken at the ICC Board meeting which was held in Dubai on April 20, 2010. The total prize money on offer for the tournament for the teams placing from 1st to 8th is US$7.48 million. The remaining two semi-finalists will receive 0.75 million US$ each. The last four quarter-finalists will each receive 0.37 million US$.
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